Running head: GEISHA1

Geisha: Ritual Kinship Supporting Art

Cena Bussey

Study in Depth

September 16, 2013

Professor Dawn St. Clare

“I certify that I have read A Student's Guide to Academic

Integrity at the University of Oklahoma, and this paper is an

original paper composed by me for this course. Except where

properly cited and attributed, it has not been copied or closely

reworded from any other source and has not been submitted as a

whole, or in part, for credit in any other course at OU or any

other educational institution. It has not been created or

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submitted for any other purpose such as a job assignment at my

workplace or any other agency.”

Introduction

The geisha of Japan are figures of femininity that have

fascinated the western mind since the island nation was opened to

the west in the mid-19th century. Limited understanding of

Japanese culture quickly turned the geisha image into one of

seduction and even prostitution. The western understanding of

what a geisha is, what she symbolizes, even now resides behind a

veil of mystery and fantasy for the majority of western culture.

The reality is much more mundane, but no less fascinating. The

geisha of Japan provide an exemplary case study in Japanese

culture, art, politics, and religion. The world of geisha is a

world of ritual, informed by centuries of culture and social

propriety. Every aspect of their lives is ritualized, from their

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very behavior, their costumes, and their living social

relationships.

The focus of this paper will be to reveal exactly how the

ritualized institution of the geisha functions as a means of

transmitting and preserving the unique culture of the island of

Japan. In examining the formal rules of ritual kinship by which

the institution is organized, the nature of Japanese kinship and

its role in both family and business are revealed. These forms of

social organization are longstanding in Japan, and tie into years

of complex relationships between the court system and that of

feudal rule. By examining the artistry of the geisha from

costumes to performance, we are introduced to both the concept of

the floating world as well as the culture of the four seasons

which are elementary to understanding Japanese aesthetics.

Finally, we will examine the transition of the geisha institution

over its long history, to reveal how it has evolved while still

preserving the traditions of ritual, art, and social custom that

are its foundation.

What is a geisha?

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Any introduction to the geisha institution should begin

here, particularly given the amount of misinformation about them

within western cultural sources. In the linguistic sense, geisha

are defined by their art. Ethnographer Liza Dalby defined the

word geisha in western terms, simply as “artist (Dalby, 1983).”

Dalby’s perspective is unique, given that she is known as the

only western women to have trained and worked as a geisha in

Japan while completing her graduate thesis in the mid-seventies.

Scholar Lesley Downer offers a deeper definition of the term,

dividing the word into its syllabic meanings, gei meaning art and

sha meaning person (Downer, 2004). This translates literally as

person of art. Mineko Iwasaki offers up a similar definition to

Downer while expressing a preference for Kyoto based alternate

term geiko, or woman of art (Iwasaki & Brown, 2002). Iwasaki

represents the native geisha, being one of the best known of

Japanese geisha during the mid-21st century. Each individual’s

definition offers subtle distinctions, particularly in terms of

gender. While the western voices prefer terms which are gender

neutral, the native Japanese voice shows preference to the

feminine-gendered orientation for defining the professional role

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of geisha. Though it is a subtle difference, it is telling in

relation to the stark contrast between western and Japanese

gender roles. It is hard to understand the role of the geisha

without a firm footing in the traditional Japanese understanding

of gender. It is these nuances which reveal the subtle line the

geisha negotiates between femininity and self-possession.

Another term of particular interest is the word maiko, which

means woman of dance (Iwasaki & Brown, 2002). The maiko is the

apprentice geisha, practicing her arts during the day and

mirroring her onesan (older sister) by night. This relationship

will be discussed in depth later in the paper, but for now it is

interesting to contrast the term maiko to that of geiko. Dance

was but one of the many artistic pursuits in which maiko trained,

yet their label specifies it. Perhaps the choice of the action

oriented word “dance” is meant to contrast with the geiko’s art.

In essence, the term maiko might indicate practice, while the

term geiko represents a person who has achieved true artistic

merit and skill.

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Another term central to understanding the geisha is the

cultural concept of ukiyo, which means “the floating world

(Hibbett, 2001).” The floating world refers to the enjoyment of

simple earthly pleasures, a sort of elegant hedonism which

conveys a spirit of material and social enjoyment. The term is an

old one in Japan, originally indicating a much more sober

Buddhist idea which emphasized the transient nature of life and

its short lived beauty (Hibbett, 2001). The word ukiyo became

fashionable during the Edo period in reference to the pleasure

quarters and entertainment avenues of urban Japan. It is in this

time and circumstance that the profession of geisha evolved as an

integral part of this urban floating world which catered to the

tastes of a growing merchant class.

The simplest way to do define the geisha is as a performance

artist with a specific social function, to entertain. Be it

through the nuances of traditional Japanese dance, music, or

theatre, or through the simple gestures of serving guests at a

gathering and making conversation. The art of the geisha is in

creating an experience for their patrons of enjoyment and

refinement. It is also important to note that a Japanese ideal of

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refinement contains none of the west’s aversion to matters

sexual. Within the Japanese religious and cultural paradigm, sex

and sensuality hold none of the taboos inherent in western

culture regarding sin (Longstreet & Longstreet, 2009). Instead,

sexuality was an accepted and acknowledged part of human nature,

and one of the greater earthly pleasures afforded by the ukiyo

ideal.

This is not to suggest that the role of the geisha was a

sexual one. In fact, there were many classes of female

entertainers and hostesses within the world of the pleasure

quarters. From the low class prostitutes to the flamboyant upper

class courtesans, from the geisha and maids and hostesses in all

types of entertainment venues, women offered their services to

the highest bidder. These services became strictly regulated

during the 17th century, and geisha were forbidden by union rules

to compete with courtesans by selling sexual favors (Longstreet,

2009). A geisha could and often did engage with men sexually. The

important distinction often lost on the West is that a geisha

does not sell sex explicitly. The correlation between geisha and

prostitution most likely came about due to the confusion of

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foreigners in distinguishing between geisha and courtesans. Sex

may be a part of the geisha’s life, but it was not her

profession. Dance, music, and entertainment were.

Ritual Kinship in Japan

The impact of Confucianism cannot be stressed enough when

examining the structure of Japanese families. As civilization

took hold in Japan, much of the social and political structures

were mirrored on Chinese models, and Confucianism in particular

melded well with the court system of the Japanese as well as

their religious worldview. By the time geisha came out in force,

Confucianism and it’s ideals of filial piety were cemented as the

ideal in terms of social organization in Japanese culture.

Stressing the importance of elders and ancestor worship,

Confucianism demanded adherence to strict terms of seniority

between parent, child, and family members (Bloom, de Bary, &

Oxnam, 2013).

Though family structures have become much more fluid in the

modern world, for most of Japanese history family and kinship

organization were strictly patriarchal and modeled on the ideal

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of filial piety. Inheritance, property, and ancestral religious

obligations passed father to son, and those without male heirs

often adopted the husband for an elder daughter to become the new

heir and continue the family line (Hearn, 1904). Seniority was

typically given to males dependent on their relation to the

patriarch of the family in the line of succession. When no male

successors were available, the head of the family would choose a

suitable male figure to continue as his heir by adoption, a form

of ritual kinship that bestowed the same rights on this

individual as if he had been the biological heir.

Within this system, women had marginal rights within her

biological family line. The power for women came from their

immediate relationships to men. Once married, a woman in essence

became a part of her husband’s family, and her seniority was

dependent upon her husband’s position within the line of

succession (Hearn, 1904). It is interesting to note that one’s

biological age often had little to do with the specific seniority

a person would have. For example, the wife of the immediate heir

would always be referred to as “elder sister” by the rest if the

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family, though she could be decades younger than those who were

below her in the line of succession.

Though there is sparse research on the history of ritual or

fictive kinship in Japan, it is logical to assume that these

functional adoptions of males were probably the first kinds of

ritual kinship ties to exist there. Regardless of its ultimate

origins, ritual kinship ties were to become a norm within the

Japanese culture, particularly within the business world. By the

time of the geishas, social proprieties were greatly influenced

by the recognition of kinship ties both biological and fictive.

Through further examination, one can see that the complex systems

of ritual kinship provided a foundation on which the geisha

institution depended.

Modern studies have illustrated well just how deeply ritual

kinship organizations are culturally and socially assimilated as

a norm of Japanese society. In the paper Oyabun-Kobun: a Japanese

ritual kinship institution, Iwao Ishino examined a company of stevedores

as a means of illustrating the common role of fictive kinship in

Japanese business in the 1950s. Oyabun-Kobun means Father-Child,

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and references the structure of this ritual form of kinship

between workers and their superiors which mirrors that of the

traditional patriarchal Japanese family system (Ishino, 1953).

The Oyabun, or father, is the ultimate authority figure within

the company, and his immediate underlings are known as elder

brothers. This system continues all the way downward in a system

of seniority within the company from the Oyabun to base laborers

as the “grandchildren.”

This same system exists in most all traditional vocations in

Japan, and even includes the aspect of inheritance. The owner of

a particular business will choose a favorite “elder son” from his

own workers and apprentices to whom the business will be given

upon his death; at which point the favored “son” will become the

new kobun and then oyabun after the owner’s death (Ishino, 1953).

Much like the Japanese family, this favorite was not always a

biological heir, but rather the person most capable of running

the business itself.

One of the more interesting points of Ishino’s research was

the way it illustrated the ritual nature of these fictive kinship

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ties, even within the secular world of business. The Oyabun

personally selected his Kobun as well as senior workers and those

directly beneath him participated in a ritual in order to cement

the bonds of kinship between them. As Ishino describes, induction

ceremonies were held in which the favored men of the drank

ritual wine mixed with fish as a representation of blood, with

each taking a drink in turn to symbolize their acceptance of the

new member as a brother (Ishino, 1953). Such ceremonies were

common in both fictive and true kinship systems in Japan.

In the paper, The Notion of Kinship, Shimizu examines theories of

kinship in Japan and attempts to create her own working model of

the ie. Ie translates literally as “dwelling house” but refers to

what scholars have termed family or the kinship structure as a

whole (Shimizu, 1991). Studies of the Yap of rural Japan are used

to illustrate how both biological and fictive kinship exists

within the “domestic corporation” which Shimizu feel is a better

definition of the ie than the word family (Shimizu, 1991). In

this system of kinship, the marriage ceremonies give females full

status as members of the ie. Yet children produced of the

marriage are affiliated with the mother’s original family until

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the time that the father of the child performs a ritual naming

ceremony which declares the child an heir (Shimizu, 1991). It is

also noted that these ceremonies could also be used in the event

no heir was produced and the father chose a child to adopt.

Regardless of biology, it was the ritual act of claiming the

child by the father which asserted their place as a full-fledged

member of the ie.

There are several aspects of the traditional Japanese view

of kinship that are important to understanding the social

organization of the geisha. The first is that the notion of

kinship in Japan has been based on patrilineage since the

beginning of civilization on the island, transitioning from a

matrilineal system in its prehistoric early agricultural era.

Though the rulership in Japan would transition from the court

system to that of feudalism and eventually to the modern

capitalist system, one’s place in the paternal line determined

the individual’s place in the complex social hierarchy of both

the ie as well as society at large. This kinship and social

propriety network was supported not only politically but

philosophically as well.

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Secondly, the ie functioned not only as a domestic structure

but a monetary one as well. Kinship in Japan hinged upon

inheritance and the production of wealth. The continued survival

of the paternal line and its fruitfulness was the primary goal

for most all Japanese ie. It was this need to continue the line

and flourish which probably created the original bonds of ritual

kinship, in the form of adoptions of male heirs by families who

could not produce male heirs.

Thirdly, this system of fictive kinship was eventually

adopted within society at large, particularly in traditional

occupations and the merchant classes, in which businesses were

inherited by the elder son, or kobun, specifically chosen by the

head of the business itself, the father or oyabun. In these

enterprises, often built on a system of apprenticeship, the

senior members were chosen by both biological connection as well

as business ability.

Lastly, the bonds of kinship were not given simply in the

event of birth, but rather became cemented by the observance of

ritual and ceremony performed by the head of the family or

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business which recognized the individual as a full-fledged member

of the ie. As the system was adopted in occupational enterprises,

these ceremonies and rituals were also adopted as necessary means

of recognizing the person as a full member of the business and

marked their place within the social hierarchy. Even in modern

Japan, such ceremonies are still performed in many occupations.

Though complex in basic structure, the universal acceptance

of the kinship organization would likely have made the role of a

traditional entertainer such as the geisha much easier. Hierarchy

was clear cut, and social propriety clearly marked by convention

by the time that the geisha profession came about. And like most

other traditional occupations, the geisha world would be modeled

on these same kinships systems which supported the whole of

society, and particularly the monied classes from which the

geisha would draw their patronage.

Women in Japan: traditional roles in family and society

Though the indigenous people of Japan originally practiced a

more matrilineal system of kinship, interactions and cultural

blending with the Asian continent shifted the focus of Japanese

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kinship to patrilineal systems. Much of this shift can be

explained by the rise of three main philosophical and religious

outlooks which were created or adopted by the Japanese from

mainland Asia. Buddhism, Confucianism, and the Samurai codes all

gave men superiority over women. Friedman cites a Confucian

saying which clearly illustrates a woman’s role in the family is

to obey her father, husband, and son throughout the various

stages of life (Friedman, 1992). Samurai codes also claimed that

“a woman should look upon her husband as if he were heaven itself

(Friedman,1992).” Even in the famous Tale of the Genji, written by

Heian period lady in waiting Marasaki Shikibu the claim is made

that a woman not fundamentally evil would “not have been born a

woman at all (Shikibu, 978)”. Some tenets of Buddhism also

claimed that women were beyond salvation.

As a result of these strict gender roles throughout the

popular philosophical and cultural movements, the role of women

was to produce children and care for the home. Unlike western

ideals of matrimony which center upon the idea of affection and

romance, the Japanese viewed marriage as a sort of “social and

practical contract (Friedman, 1992).” Displays of romantic folly

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and passion were reserved mostly for popular literature and the

theatre, which would come to play a large role in the experience

of ukiyo, or the floating world in which geisha would find their

home. But for most Japanese women, their primary role was one of

domestic obedience and care of the needs of her children and

family.

Though this primary role served the purpose of the

patrilineal kinship system well, it also left the door open for

alternative roles for females within society. Chesemore describes

these alternative professions for women in her thesis, Women of

the Floating World. She divides these into three categories:

mistress, courtesan, and geisha (Chesemore, 1990). The mistress

is a woman who has a romantic and sexual relationship with one

man, a role encompassed by the phenomena of the second wife.

Polygamy was a common practice in Japan until the influence of

the West discouraged the practice (Chesemore, 1990). Men had

multiple wives dependent upon their wealth and ability to support

them. Principal wives were often the product of political and

social contracts rather than romantic ones, so the taking of

mistresses as second wives was common to fulfill the male’s more

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passionate appetites. The principal or first wife however would

always remain the highest in the domestic hierarchy, and respect

for her was always the priority among the women of the household

(Chesemore, 1990). Such mistresses and wives were common by the

Heian era in which Murasaki composed the Tale of the Genji, yet

by the 17th century their dominance was second to the next class

of women, the courtesan.

The courtesan was a high-class prostitute, who bartered sex

for money among the wealthy men of Japan. Flamboyant and stylish,

the high class courtesan would become the highest measure of

style in the pleasure quarters which were soon created in the

larger cities of Japan. The first pleasure quarters appeared in

Edo, now modern Tokyo, not long after the cities’ creation

(Longstreet & Longstreet, 2009). The creation of this new

district for prostitution is attributed to Shogu Jingemori, a

brothel keeper who petitioned the shogunate that districts be

created to reduce harm to public morality and create a means in

which the goings on of the prostitutes and brothel owners could

be better supervised (Longstreet & Longstreet, 2009). Jingemori’s

arguments lean heavily on moral grounds, attributing the vast and

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unregulated networks of prostitution with everything from the

moral decline of wealthy men to theft and kidnapping of girls to

be forced into the profession.

Though the proposal to create such a district had been declined

by the previous shogun, Jingemori’s moral reasoning was enough to

convince them that creating pleasure quarters would indeed be a

practical solution. The creation of pleasure quarters was

approved in 1617 (Longstreet & Longstreet, 2009). Both courtesans

and geisha would come to ply their trades in these walled-in

districts of brothels, teahouses, and eventually other

entertainment venues such as the theatres. The centralization of

these questionable entertainment areas in Edo and other large

cities created a new kind of economy into which both women of

pleasure and the industries which supported them would only grow

in wealth. Men from every level of society were welcome in the

pleasure quarters, as long as they possessed the coin to pay for

the services they indulged.

The first geishas would begin to appear in Japan near the

same time that the pleasure quarters were evolving. According to

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Liza Dalby, the first geisha were men, playing the roles of

jesters and drum bearers who were sent for to entertain both the

customers and yujo (women of pleasure), during their long nights

of partying (Dalby, 1983). It is important to note that though

the pleasure quarters were essentially created for the purpose of

prostitution, banquets, parties, and other forms of entertainment

are what filled much of the time for customers and yujo alike in

the quarters. The first true female geisha appeared in Kyoto in

1751, and within a few years began to appear in the pleasure

quarters in Edo and other cities as well (Dalby, 1983). These

were not the mere waitresses and sometimes prostitutes of the

earlier Yoshiwara, but rather a new sort of female entertainer

well versed in the arts of music, dance, and most importantly the

art of conversation.

The Organization of Geisha Society

By the late 1700s the geisha had taken the ukiyo by storm,

to the point that the courtesans’ survival was threatened. Though

not sex workers by profession, geisha did engage in sexual

relationships with the men they encountered, and as Dalby

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illustrates there were many different well know types of slang

names for geisha which denoted both their social level as well as

their willingness to engage sexually with customers (Dalby,

1983). In 1779 the geisha were officially recognized as a unique

profession, were required to register in local kenban (registry

offices) in order to work, and strictly forbidden by law to sleep

with the customers of the courtesans (Dalby, 1983). With this the

profession of the geisha was cemented in Japanese society, and

geisha came into their own both socially and financially.

Just as the business world modeled its social hierarchies on

the patrilineal kinship system of the ie, geisha would also adopt

a similar system within the pleasure quarters. The chief

difference however, was one of gender. Women predominantly lived

and worked within the ukiyo, and so women became the chief

members within the geisha ie. As there is little available

research on the historical structures of geisha families and

homes, the experience of Liza Dalby and Mineko Iwasaki will be

used to examine the structure of the geisha’s social and kinship

connections. Though both experienced life as a geisha in the mid-

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20th century, their first person accounts reveal a world very

much still steeped in traditions of fictive kinship.

According to Dalby, the owner of a teahouse or geisha house

was a female who was referred to as “okasan” or mother (Dalby,

1983). Much like the oyabun or honored father and owner of a

particular business, the okasan was the highest ranked woman in a

geisha’s fictive family. Like the CEO of a company, the okasan

managed accounts and the business as well as the lives of the

geisha employed by her. She would have overseen and directed the

entirety of her business and social world, from the running of

the household to the acquiring of new maiko, or apprentices for

the business.

Of second rank within the business family was an individual

named the atotori, or heir of the okiya (Lebra, 1985). The word

okiya simply refers to the lodging house in which the maiko and

geisha live up until they have paid their debts to the owner, or

okasan. As the atotori of the home and business, it was understood

that upon the death of the okasan, the business would be

inherited by the atotori. As a result of this, the atotori was

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treated with nearly as much deference within the home as the

okasan. Iwasaki described the honor given to the okasan and

atotori in the home as comparable to the queen and and heir

apparent, with the others functioning as court members who were

to obey the queen, or okasan, without question (Iwasaki & Brown,

2002). In the early days of the geisha, the atotori was chosen by

the okasan from birth or earlier childhood, though after labor

and schooling laws for girls were passed, many were not chosen

until they had completed the required schooling, and some were

chosen from the established geisha of the house (Lebra, 1985).

The role of the atotori was integral to the survival of both the

business and the name of the owner, therefore younger candidates

were probably preferred as a means of ensuring by the okasan that

the importance of role and its duties could be internalized early

in life.

The rest of the members of a geisha house were referred to in

terms of their place in the hierarchy of experience. Maiko, or

apprentices, were below the geisha, and beneath them were various

servants and girls known as shikomi. Shikomi refers to a girl who

is to become a geisha who has not yet started her apprenticeship

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(Lockard, 2009). Shikomi girls spend some period of time simple

getting used to life at the okiya and begin to learn the myriad

rules and customs which govern the community. They also begin

attending dance and music lessons and grow their hair to

anticipate the elaborate hairstyles they will be wearing after

they become maiko (Lockard, 2009).

Maiko and Onesan: A Ritual Marriage

Established full-fledged geisha were referred to by maiko

as onesan, or older sister. Though this general term applied to

many geisha a maiko would know, each geisha was also assigned a

specific onesan whom she would shadow in her work as a means of

learning the trade (Dalby, 1983). This relationship would take

the form of a fictional kinship bond, and would be recognized by

a specific ceremony binding the two together.

The ritual kinship bonds between a maiko and her elected

onesan are integral to the continuation of the art of the geisha.

It is from the onesan that a maiko will learn how to interact

with banquet guests, sharpen her conversational skills, and truly

learn the art of entertainment by observation. As a result of the

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importance of this, the bond is solidified ritually during an

event called misedashi, a coming out ceremony for new maiko

(Lockard, 2009). This event was marked by much fanfare within the

community, as the flamboyantly dressed maiko was paraded about

town and formally introduced to teahouse owners and other

important members of the community.

One of the most important parts of the misedashi was the

maiko’s binding to her chosen onesan. The binding was ritually

signified with the same ceremony as is used in Japanese

marriages, which is called “san san kudo” which means “three three

nine times (Lebra, 1985). During this ceremony three cups of sake

are passed between the two people being bound, from which each

takes three sips from each cup. Odd numbers are considered

auspicious to the Japanese, with nine being the luckiest, the

product of three times three (Grant, 2011). The three cups used

represent both the earthly and heavenly realms and humanity. The

san san kudo ceremony that a maiko and her onesan perform

effectively cements their bond, both in spirit, physical reality,

and in the eyes of the extended community.

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Though a maiko may take an onesan outside of her own okiya,

traditionally the onesan would be a member of the same family of

geisha beneath one okasan’s power. The repercussions of this

bonding were not only a matter of training, but could be seen as

functioning as a means of support to the fictive kinship

organization itself. A maiko was dependent upon her onesan to

learn the specific skills she would need to succeed as a full

geisha. Though her training in the arts was an important

component of her education, the success of the geisha was most

dependent on her relationship with her clients. Without learning

how to converse and interact in the proper ways with their

patrons, a geisha would likely fail to succeed at the business.

By being bonded with an experienced and successful geisha she

would learn by observation. She would become the shadow of her

onesan as she attended banquets and other appointments at the

teahouses. She would learn to become pleasing in her manners and

cultivate her conversational skills. She would learn how to act

in certain situations, and how to adapt herself to the

personality of specific clients. It was not uncommon for the

clients of an onesan to become the clients of a maiko once she

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became a full geisha. Therefore, this relationship with the

onesan also functioned as a sort of networking in which the maiko

could begin to build relationships with the patrons who might

support her in her career as a geisha.

Within the specific context of the okiya, the relationship

of the onesan and maiko also had a supportive function. In the

deeply hierarchal society of the Japanese, traditional businesses

depended not only on ability but also reputation to be

prosperous. The success of a new maiko was vital to the economic

stability of the onesan and okasan’s business interests. This is

a result of the great expense undertaken by the okiya in training

the maiko, to say nothing of the myriad elements of makeup,

hairstyle, and expensive kimono that were vital to the

profession.

To understand this expense, and what it meant to both the

maiko and the okiya, it is helpful to examine what exactly these

expenses entailed. It is also helpful in understanding the

history of the institution and the role of the women who

supported it.

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The Business of Making a Geisha

Throughout history, few girls were born into the geisha

family. The prospective geisha as well as prostitutes of the

pleasure quarters were bought and sold, many times against their

will. It was considered no shame in Japan for the poor to

outright sell their daughters to the brothel keepers and geisha

houses of the Yoshiwara and other pleasure districts. And as

indicated in his 1612 letter of appeal to the shogunate,

Jingemori indicated that some girls were even kidnapped and taken

to work in the pleasure quarters in various positions

(Longstreet, 2009). Many of these were but children, and as

indicated by such traditions as the atotori, may have even been

preferable to more mature young women. Young girls are easier to

train and control, and less likely to succeed in running away

from their owners. This was the dark side of the pleasure

quarters, where women and girls were bought, sold, and even

stolen and forced to work as indentured servants to those who

bought them, until their debts were paid. These debts included

their purchase price as well as any other expenses that might

accrue, and were added to her debts liberally. As Longstreet

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explains, many young women of the Yoshiwara and assorted pleasure

quarters were forced to sell themselves until the age of 27 in

order to free themselves from debt (Longstreet, 2009). It is also

no surprise that many such women were forced to continue this

life in order to support themselves, having little other options

for making a living or marrying.

Though the geisha were not typically forced into

prostitution, they were sexually available. In some ways their

debts could be even higher than those of the tayu, or courtesans.

Not only did a geisha have to pay back her purchase price, she

also was burdened by the debts owed to the okiya for her art and

dance lessons, expensive kimono, and many other accoutrements and

necessities of the geisha life and appearance. As a Kyoto geisha

in the mid 20th century, Mineko Iwasaki estimated that one geisha

kimono cost at least two thousand dollars (Iwasaki & Brown,

2002). It is also common knowledge that for a geisha to appear in

the same kimono more than once is nearly unheard of, and will be

viewed as shabby among her community members (Iwasaki & Brown,

2002). All these expenses were paid for by the okiya, and until

GEISHA 30

her debts were paid the geisha must continue to work for her

okasan to pay them back.

The purchase price, years of training, and no guarantee of

return made the success of a prospective geisha integral to the

survival of the business. This is why the relationship between

maiko and onesan was so important, that it was recognized by

ritual kinship ceremonies tantamount to marriage. The maiko and

her onesan were bound together within the fictive kinship

structure of the okiya as a means of recognizing a relationship

mutually beneficial to themselves as well as the okiya.

For the onesan, the success of her maiko was everything in a

world where reputation was prized above all things. The

elaborately dressed maiko was welcome at any occasion, and for

the onesan would have given her a manner of respect among her

peers as well as exciting her patrons, and perhaps bringing in

new potential clients. She also had a stake in the maiko’s

success, which was bound to her guidance and mentoring. If the

maiko failed to produce money for the okiya, the status of the

onesan would likely suffer as well.

GEISHA 31

As discussed earlier, the maiko was also dependent upon her

onesan for success. She would learn the art of conversation and

entertainment from her onesan. She would also be able to

acclimate to the new surroundings within the teahouse surrounded

by strangers in the company of a sort of elder chaperone. And her

future clients might come through introductions with those in the

acquaintance of her onesan. She was dependent upon the onesan for

guidance.

In light of this, it is easy to see why the ceremony which

bound them was full of marriage symbolism. Like the marriage

within the Japanese ie, the purpose was ultimately the survival

and furthering of the family name and fortune. The relationships

were not about love or affection, but rather practical benefit.

In the same vein, the binding of maiko to onesan served the same

purpose within the fictive family of the okiya. Both were reliant

on one another to flourish at their profession, and both were

driven by the need to succeed monetarily in order to repay their

debts. And in doing so, they also served the purpose of

increasing the reputation of the okasan and her okiya, which

would ultimately increase the businesses reputation and future

GEISHA 32

prospects. In light of this, it is not difficult to see the

vested interests conveyed in the ritual binding of maiko to

onesan.

Mizuage: The geisha’s rite of passage

The term mizuage makes many both inside and beyond the world

of geisha a bit squeamish. The term itself means “raising water”

in the literal sense, yet it has many connected yet variant

meanings. Originally the term referred to the practice of goods

being unloaded from barges, and evolved into a means of referring

to that which is bought and sold, financial income (Dalby, 1983).

In the world of the pleasure quarters, mizuage came to denote the

selling of sex itself, with the process of “raising water”

referring both to the exchange of compensation for service as

well as a crude reference to female sexual fluids (Dalby, 1983).

In light of its association to sexual activity as well as

its application to both geisha and prostitutes historically, it

is safe to assume that mizuage in relation to the pleasure

quarters simply referred to the process of deflowering young

women were subjected to. There is also evidence that this

GEISHA 33

process, now simply a ceremonial transition from maiko to geisha,

did in fact happen to geisha in some instances, though lack of

sources and the reticence of geisha to speak of it makes any

knowledge of its prevalence hard to come by. Like most sexual

topics, the Japanese voice throughout history prefers to imply

rather than speak explicitly, and more modern first person

accounts on mizuage tend to glaze over the actual experience and

details of the process.

In light of this lack of explicit detail, it is helpful to

realize that like most other professions, there has always been a

hierarchy of social status. In historical Japan, there were a

great many different types of geisha associated to different

regions and social classes. Each of these had a place on the

spectrum between sex worker and serious artist (Dalby, 1983). For

the purpose of this discussion, we will focus mostly on the more

artistic classes of geisha for which mizuage was a coming of age

ceremony more so than a literal expression of the selling of

virginity.

GEISHA 34

Mizuage for geisha goes hand-in-hand with the occasion of

eri-kae, or the turning of the collar, and in modern times the

two terms have become somewhat interchangeable. This occasion

marks the transition from maiko to geisha, and functions as a

communal coming-of-age ceremony for the geisha. For this

occasion, the new geisha will wear her most formal kimono, and

will visit many teahouses and other businesses within the

quarters to present herself as a full geisha as well as thank the

community for their support of her (Kojiki, 2013). The turning of

the collar refers to the specific nuance of the maiko and

geisha’s costume; red collars are worn by maiko while white

collars are worn only by full geisha (Kojiki, 2013)..

There is no way to know the true implications of mizuage and

its link with the eri-kae, yet they could be viewed as two

processes by which the transition from maiko to geisha was

affirmed, private and public. The obvious connection and at times

interchangeability of the terms may indicate that both

represented a traditional rite of passage within the community,

both in professional and personal terms.

GEISHA 35

The transition from girl to woman is marked in many cultures

worldwide and often linked to her loss of virginity. This is

admittedly the case when one examines the conversation of Dalby

with both geisha and their patrons during her training as a

geisha in Kyoto (Dalby, 1985). Hansen discusses the common

elements of rites of passages, which fit well into the framework

of the mizuage ceremonies of maiko. During a rite of passage,

there may be several stages of ritual and ordeal through which

the individual emerges with a new social status (Hansen, n.d.).

It is common for this transition to include ritual elements such

as dance or masks as signal of the symbolic changes which the

individual has undergone (Hansen, n.d.).

These elements are evident within the frame of the mizuage

and eri-kae ceremonies. In the past, the deflowering may have

been the significant ordeal that a young woman had to endure in

order to attain status as both a woman and geisha. The eri-kae

ceremony provided the culmination of the transition, in which the

new geisha was formally costumed and presented to the community

as both a professional and fictive family member, now receiving

the full support of her community. The changes in wardrobe may be

GEISHA 36

viewed in the same light as the symbolic representations of new

status, serving the same function as theatrics or the wearing of

masks among other cultures passage rites. By “turning the

collar,” the maiko was socially transformed into a geisha, and

from that point forward her new white collar would signify her

social status as such. It was not until a maiko became a geisha

that she was considered worthy of the long years of training and

money that were put in by herself, the okiya, her onesan, and the

community at large. As a result of this, a geisha’s eri-kae has

always been an important celebratory rite for both herself and

the community. Even today the coming out of a new geisha remains

an important event that attracts community members and tourists

alike.

Culture of the Four Seasons and Communal Ritual

The role of the geisha is an entertainer, yet she is more

than a simple hostess or waitress. In a very real sense, geisha

are representatives of culture in light of their serious training

in the arts. For centuries they have made a living as such,

becoming living, walking breathing symbols of Japanese

GEISHA 37

aesthetics. Even in postmodern times as their numbers have

dwindled, they remain cherished by the people of Japan for their

preservation of culture and social tradition.

In his book Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons, Haruo

Shirane surveys Japanese arts from the Nara period till the end

of the Edo period, a time when geisha were just coming into their

own golden age. When we examine this culture of the four seasons,

it becomes obvious how deeply embedded the idea is in all

traditional Japanese art forms, including the geisha. These

cultural roots go far back into the history of Japan and its

indigenous religious and ritual paradigm. In this sense, geisha

play a role in society which goes even deeper than the okiya and

the pleasure quarters. They may also play a role for the Japanese

collectively as preservers of culture and national pride.

The native indigenous religion of Japan is Shinto, an

animistic belief system which has been practiced in Japan since

before recorded history. The central belief is in the kami, or

divine spirits which reside in all natural things (Universal Life

Church [ULC], 2010). The natural world is the home of the divine,

GEISHA 38

and as such was revered greatly by the Japanese. Formal ritual

was created as a means of interacting with these spirits, and

asking for their benevolent actions in return. As the residents

of nature itself in an agricultural society, the actions of the

kami could be a matter of life and death. Survival was dependent

on the production of the land, and the kami controlled all

natural phenomena. Shinto also includes a belief in the power of

one’s ancestors to help their descendants, so ancestor worship is

also a common component of Shintoism (Universal Life Church

[ULC], 2010).

Taken at its simplest, two important aspects of indigenous

Japanese belief are obvious. These are the reverence of nature

and the importance of family. Its focus on formality in ritual

also can be seen as an important element which would also

influence Japanese culture. The later growth of religion and

philosophies such as Buddhism, Zen, and Confucianism were all

compatible with Shinto, and as a result Shinto has survived as

Japan’s indigenous belief system even in postmodern Japan.

GEISHA 39

In the form of the kami, nature was personified and given an

emotional nature. People could speak to and appeal to the kami

and their ancestors as a means of bringing about certain events

such as favorable weather or the success of the crops. In the

event of a natural disaster the people could also appeal to the

kami for help, which gave them a means of understanding the world

and a sense of comfort and hope. The rituals became embedded in

their spiritual culture as the favored means of interaction with

the spirit world.

This reverence of personified nature would evolve into an

ideal state of nature in the culture of Japan. Nature translated

to the Japanese as emotion due to the personification of it

within their spiritual traditions. As art and material culture

evolved, nature would become symbolic of human emotion as well.

During the Heian period, this spiritual and aesthetic

idealization of nature would become ingrained in what is termed

as the culture of the four seasons. This ideal would eventually

become part of and parcel of the geisha life as traditional

artists, and its influence is palpable in nearly every aspect of

GEISHA 40

their professional lives from the elaborate kimono that clothe

them to the art forms they practice.

During the Heian period and through the medieval age, the

courtly life drew the highest classes of society away from the

countryside and into large urban cities such as Kyoto and Edo

where the court and government was centered (Caiger and Mason,

1997). There was also a gradual transition of land ownership from

public allotment to the system of shoen, or hereditary estate

(Caiger and Mason, 1997). These changes created clans of nobility

that needed to be close to the centralized capitals of the court

and government in order to protect the finances and interests of

the clan itself. Ultimately the ruling power would transition

from the emperor to the shogunate, yet there was a continuing

need for the rulers of the powerful clans to be continuously in

the growing urban areas in order to secure their influence in the

political realm.

Removed from the primacy of the natural realm formerly

experienced on their estates, the aristocracy turned to the arts

to preserve their reverence and connection with the natural

GEISHA 41

realm, already deeply ingrained within the culture. Hiruao

Shirane’s Culture of the Four Seasons explains how this deep reverence

of nature led Japanese art to shift focus to secondary nature, a

kind of “recreated or represented nature (Shirane, 2012).” This

concept was a good fit with previous Japanese art forms, such as

the ancient poetic form of the waka and haiku (Shirane, 2012).

One of the central themes of these poetic forms is the connection

between nature and human emotion. In fact, feeling is rarely ever

explicitly expressed in Japanese poetics, but rather represented

by natural objects and phenomena. Nature was the means of

articulating thought and emotion, and functioned as both a

stimulus for the artist and an expression of feeling (Shirane,

2012).

Waka was a means of communicating feeling by urban elites,

and it focused on gentleness and harmony. As Shirane describes

it, waka depicted nature not as it actually was, but as it should

be (Shirane, 2012). This was the first development of the

aesthetic focus on secondary nature and it would extend into the

whole of Japanese art and culture in the coming centuries

GEISHA 42

During the premodern period, this focus on idealized

secondary nature led to the creation of many artistic styles and

forms that would come to define Japanese art. Screen painting,

palace style gardens, ikebana (flower arrangement), bonsai, tea

ceremony, the decoration of kimono, and a variety of other art

forms all focuses on the elegant beauty of idealized, secondary

nature (Shirane, 2012). By the time the geisha came into

existence, these aesthetic ideals were ingrained in the culture

of Japan, and the geisha were deeply involved in them in their

role as artists.

Geisha as Cultural Symbols

Kimono and the transmission of culture

The importance of kimono to the geisha is a topic that few

truly understand. To the average westerner the geisha’s kimono is

viewed like any other fashionable outfit, a mere means of

GEISHA 43

accentuating their youth and beauty as a means of attracting male

attention. This perspective could not be more simplistic. The

kimono is more than a mere outfit. It is an art form with

historical significance utilizing centuries of symbolism embedded

in Japanese culture.

During the Heian period, aristocratic women used their

elaborate dresses much like the poet used brush and ink, to

display their elegance and beauty using traditional natural

imagery. The juni hitoe, or twelve layered dress, was a visual

expression of secondary nature and its focus on seasonal

symbolism during the Heian period (Shirane, 2012). During each of

the four seasons specific color combinations were called for

which echoed the colors of nature during that particular season

(Shirane, 2012). To be dressed in garments symbolic of a

conflicting season would have been viewed as a great impropriety.

Evidence of this can be seen in the famous Heian era Pillow Book,

authored by Sei Shonagan, a court lady serving Empress Teishi

around the year 1000. In the section of the book titled “Awful

things” wearing a twelve layered dress outside the proper season

is comparable to “dogs howling at noon” or the use of winter

GEISHA 44

fishing techniques during the spring (Sei Shonagan, 1000). These

things are in portrayed as so nonsensical as to be truly awful.

During the Edo period a new form of dress called the kosode

was created that also functioned as wearable art. This straight

lined robe with sleeves echoed the lines of a canvas, and was

worn by common women and samurai (Shirane, 2012). This type of

dress came to be called by another name, the kimono. Like the

twelve layered robes of the Heian aristocracy, the kimono was

also decorated with seasonal motifs echoing the elegance and

harmony of the natural world. The kimono has always been and

remains the standard dress of the geisha.

Traditional etiquette on the wearing of kimono is dependent

on the adherence to certain themes of color and natural

representations based on the specific time of year. Each month

has a flower, fruit, or natural object as its symbol with

corresponding colors (Dalby, 1992). In this fashion, the geisha

transmitted the cultural aesthetics of secondary nature into the

postmodern era. This is especially true in the modern and

postmodern periods, when the expense of these luxurious

GEISHA 45

ceremonial kimono became so exhorbitant that geisha were some of

the few in Japanese society who could afford to purchase them in

enough number to keep the tradition of seasonal themes alive

(Dalby,1992).

Another cultural element of wearing kimono is best

understood by exploring what kimono mean to the Japanese. In the

paper Kimono and gender identity, author Goldstein-Gidoni explore the

place of kimono in Japan as symbols of both the feminine ideal

and the divergence of western versus Japanese culture. With the

introduction of Westerners and western cultural ideas into Japan

during the Meiji period, the Japanese began distinguishing

western (yo) with Japanese (wa) culture, particularly in the area

of clothing (Goldstein-Gidoni, 1999). Men were encouraged to

dress in western clothing and cut their hair short, yet women

were discouraged from doing so until after the Meiji period. As a

result of this, the traditional kimono became heavily associated

with the idea of Japanese womanhood, and symbolic of the inherent

national pride the Japanese had for their indigenous culture. One

popular saying is “the beauty of kimono is the heart of the

Japanese people (Goldstein-Gidoni, 1999).”

GEISHA 46

To the Japanese, the kimono is something that represents wa

culture more so than nearly any other object. In modern Japan,

there is but one form of surviving kimono, a specific type that

was once worn only by elites on special occasions (Dalby, 1992).

The geisha are the only women left in Japan who wear kimono

outside of special occasions or ceremonies such as weddings and

festivals. They are most certainly the only ones left who truly

understand the history and art of wearing kimono. It has been

said in various sources that a geisha is not a geisha without

kimono, and the kimono itself remains one of the most potent

symbols of traditional Japanese aesthetics, social customs, and

culture. As such, geisha may be revered by the collective public

for their preservation of kimono as a cherished cultural object

of great significance.

Dinner Entertainment and Social Custom

The majority of a geisha’s professional work takes place in

teahouses, restaurants, and private parties. Like many of its art

forms and primary social structures, the Japanese dining

experience is ritualized and marked by adherence to strict social

GEISHA 47

customs. The Japanese style restaurant, or ryotei, is a place

where geisha have traditionally worked as entertainers (Befu,

1974). Western restaurant service is characterized by the role

its hostesses and waiters serve, usually one of little

interaction with guests and a focus on minimal interaction

between server and patron. Ryotei dining, on the other hand, is a

complex social interaction in that both parties interact in an

almost ritual manner.

At the ryotei, each party of guests has their own separate

room, therefore the atmosphere is much more private (Befu, 1974).

Food is ordered by the host alone and often before the party

arrives at the restaurant (Befu, 1974). All guests are served the

same dishes and treated with equal propriety and respect. Befu

notes that this promotes a feeling of social cohesion between

guests which mimics the experience of dining at home (Befu,

1974). Just as fictive kinship bonds are utilized in traditional

businesses and occupations, the ryotei dining experience could be

viewed as a ritualized model of the home dining experience.

GEISHA 48

This hearkens back to Japanese ideas of the ie, home and

family. Japanese people take great pains to provide clear limits

and boundaries to those inside and outside the ie. This extends

to the physical home. To be welcomed into a person’s home

signaled a sort of belonging that could not extend to those

outside the ie, or very close personal friends. Business meetings

and other social events were not conducted within the home, so

the ryotei dining experience served as a means of creating social

bonds and communal experience outside of the home. It is worth

noting that while females have attended ryotei parties on

occasion, the phenomena itself was largely used by Japanese men

as a means of meeting and socializing for business and political

reasons (Dalby, 1983).

The hostesses and geisha took a surrogate role for the

female members of the household, as Japanese wives and mothers

were traditionally relegated to the private domestic world. The

geisha provide feminine interest and entertainment to men at the

ryotei, and also served sake, a beverage with its own long list

of ritual connotations. The geisha enabled men to socialize and

bond as a group, though their ties were based on business and

GEISHA 49

political interests rather than true kinship. The ryotei also

gave men a setting in which they could relax comfortably and be

unburdened of the strict proprieties of Japanese social life and

enjoy a sense of collective equality with his peers.

It is hard to imagine that this would be possible without

the geisha’s skills in conversation and entertainment, their

traditionally female arts. In this sense, the geisha served the

men of Japan by providing much needed female companionship in

their social obligations outside of the ie, while allowing them

to maintain a proper distance between their inner and outer

social worlds.

Working in ryotei and teahouses, geisha are also deeply

associated with the consumption of sake, a common alcoholic

beverage in Japan whose history is deeply ingrained in Japanese

culture. Sake was originally a drink with highly religious

symbolism, believed to be the drink of the gods (Befu, 1974). It

was originally drank in a ceremony called naorae, a ritual

sharing of drink before the altar of the god in which mortals

shared food and sake with the divine beings (Befu, 1974). Though

GEISHA 50

sake has long sense lost its specifically spiritual connotations

to the Japanese, it retains its somewhat ritualized protocols for

consumption. These protocols focus greatly on social communion

and propriety, which for the Japanese rests heavily on

recognizing ones place in the social hierarchy while maintaining

a general politeness of interaction that is convivial to all.

The Future of the Geisha

The geishas have always relied on a complex network of

fictive kinship ties, social hierarchies, and business

relationships as a means of surviving and passing along their

great tradition of culture and artistry. The profession of the

geisha is one of both cultural and social action deeply imbedded

within the Japanese aesthetics of beauty and art. In the modern

world, they are valued even more highly as a cultural institution

wholly Japanese, a matter of pride for the majority. Yet still,

in recent years their numbers have dwindled.

With the impact of westernization and globalization in

economics, politics, and social interaction, it is estimated that

GEISHA 51

only about 2,000 geisha still practice the profession in Japan

(Ling, 2010).

Only a century ago geisha numbered 80,000 or more (Ling, 2010).

Labor laws have forbidden the training of young girls and it is

no longer legal to obtain prospective geisha out of any means but

their own free will. In an increasingly westernized Japan, it

seems few young women can bear the expense and intense years of

training that come with the profession. Others point to financial

reasons for the decline, citing the increasing costs of training

and kimono as well as a decline in the number of men willing or

able to pay for the services of geisha.

Despite these difficulties, the tradition continues. What

was once commonplace has become a sort of revered spectacle, the

geisha have become symbolic of traditional Japan much like a

painting from a lost age might in the West. It is hard to say if

the geisha will continue to ply their trade as artists and

entertainers, or if the tradition will eventually die out in a

globalized Japan.

GEISHA 52

Conclusions

In the western mindset, the geisha have always been a

symbolic of exotic beauty and sensuality. They are also often

misunderstood. Westerners have always attempted to understand the

profession of the geisha from a western paradigm, and inevitably

failed to comprehend both the cultural and social mores of Japan

and the impossibility of “westernizing” an understanding of the

complex roles that geisha play within their society. Instead, the

focus is often attracted to their connection to the floating

world of their own imagination, where all females become

prostitutes and sex workers vying for the attention of wealthy

patrons. To the western mind, the mere idea of places such as the

“pleasure quarters” equates with sexual pleasure. For the

Japanese, the concept of pleasure does include sexuality, yet is

not limited to it by any means.

The reality is that the geisha represent much more than

simple sex workers. In fact, their role as such remains quite

ambiguous and secondary to their true profession, which is that

GEISHA 53

of the social artist. As such, the phenomenon of geisha can be

considered a cultural and social institution that is highly

valued by the Japanese, both historically and in the postmodern

age. Their work is informed by centuries of indigenous Japanese

aesthetics and social customs. This is often hard for westerners

to understand, as we have no truly comparable profession

undertaken by women in the history of our culture. One might even

say that it is this originality of culture that makes the geisha

so valuable. The geisha represents so much of that which makes

the Japanese unique in comparison to the West.

It is impossible to understand the geisha without examining

the structure of the Japanese ie, or family ideal upon which so

much of their social custom and interactions are informed. To the

west, kinship is commonly defined in terms of blood relationship,

yet in Japan it has rarely if ever been so. The Japanese have

focused instead on a system of kinship that serves the collective

ie rather than the valuation of relation by blood ties. In a

nation largely removed from the world throughout history and

self-sufficient, survival was dependent on a family’s ability to

produce for the whole, rather than pursue individual desire. The

GEISHA 54

roles of men and women were defined by their ability to sustain

the family and their own holdings. Being closed from outside

influence besides their immediate neighbors in Asia only further

solidified their need for a communal family structure that could

adapt to a variety of situations. As a result of this need, a

system of fictive kinship was adopted.

Such a system of both real and fictive kinship ties

supported the solidity of the ie, and it translated naturally to

the professional world. This was particularly true as the feudal

system began to fail in the early modern period, when merchants

and artisans grew in wealth through trade and monetary dealings

with the struggling samurai class. Urbanization and concentration

of wealth supported the growth of the pleasure quarters, the

birthplace of the profession of the geisha. Such places provided

a needed outlet for the wealthy men of the merchant classes as

well as the samurai.

Being a traditional profession, the geisha adopted the same

fictive kinship systems to support their own communal interests,

with great success. The demand for geisha was so great that true

GEISHA 55

kinship ties were rarely able to provide the labor force needed

to respond to this chain of supply and demand. The fictive

kinship bonds between maiko, geisha, onesans, and okasans

provided a structure for supporting the businesses and enabled

the geisha to depend on one another for mutual benefit. Each

member of the okiya was truly invested in the development and

success of the business, as well as the individuals within it.

Fictive kinship bonds solidified the bonds of geisha as well as

giving them a real sense of belonging and community. It gave them

job security that enabled them to focus intently on that which

defined them, the arts.

The rituals of fictive kinship between the geisha were

mirrored on traditional Japanese rites. These kinship rituals

incorporated social, cultural, and artistic elements that were

longstanding in the culture. In the ie, a child became a member

only when the father claimed the child, and this was mirrored

when the okasan claimed the geisha and chose a name for her. The

maiko’s mizuage functioned as a coming of age ceremony, another

tradition mirrored on the Japanese social custom. The custom of

adopting an atotori, or heir to the okiya was modeled on the

GEISHA 56

oyabun-kobun system of inheritance that developed from the same

practice within traditional Japanese families in order to ensure

the success of the family line.

These rituals may have functioned primarily to ensure that

the family or business flourished, yet they also incorporated

important cultural elements as well. They were often times

derived from rites that had been originally spiritual in nature,

and called upon the kami, or nature spirits for benevolence. They

also included important symbolic gestures and numeral lore that

was meaningful beyond the mundane as well. Lastly, they were

undertaken in the spirit of Japanese aesthetics, always clinging

to the value of nature as an inherent emotional and spiritual

ideal that created harmony.

Outside their primary social structures, the geisha also

played an important role to the Japanese as guardians of culture.

The Japanese aesthetic of secondary nature was created based on

ancient poetry and the importance of nature as an expression of

human emotion and thought. By the time the geisha arrived in the

16th and 17th centuries, secondary nature was cemented within the

GEISHA 57

whole of Japanese aesthetics. As artists, the geisha carried

these traditions through the centuries, evident in their music,

dance, social customs, and even the very clothes they wore. The

ability of the geisha to preserve and express culture could be

seen as directly dependent on the intense formal fictive kinship

systems they were a part of. The tight knit nature of the geisha

community was focused on communal rather than individual

interests, and as such the geisha were able to focus and transmit

traditional art from generation to generation with little outside

influence. As a result of this, today’s geisha are revered not

only for their profession, but also their role as symbols of

Japanese culture and its unique national personality.

Lastly, it would be difficult to discuss the ritual aspects

of geisha and kinship without mentioning their relationship to

their mostly male clientele. The service of companionship and

conversationalist they encompass also supports traditional

cultural and social ideals. Geisha become the missing piece in

their banquets and parties for men looking to create a relaxing

and convivial environment among their associates without

violating strict social boundaries between public and personal

GEISHA 58

life. With mothers and wives relegated to the private sphere and

the home, geisha are stand ins for the ideal Japanese female,

adding vibrancy and tending to the needs of men as they socialize

communally. In their role as servers of sake, they observe ritual

rules that also hearken back to Japanese ideals of harmony with

nature and intense respect for the social hierarchy.

Though much of the social roles that defined Japanese men

and women have changed with the impact of westernization in the

global age, the tradition still carries on. Geisha still ply

their trades in the restaurants and teahouses of the wealthy

elite, and they have become a symbol of pride for the Japanese.

The geisha of today are more likely to be dedicated to the arts

than ever, given that they must come of their own free will, and

the training requires intense discipline. Will the ritual bonds

between geisha and their fictive family members be enough to

carry them into an increasingly globalized future? Only time can

answer this question.

GEISHA 59

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